Though usually discussed as fantasy novels, the Harry Potter books are part of the long tradition of British school stories.
A lot of the discussion both for and against the popularity of the Harry Potter books, seems to focus on the magical elements, and their place next to fantasy novels such as The Lord of the Rings or the Narnia series. Generally overlooked is one of the largest elements in J.K. Rowling’s massive success: the fact that she has written a new twist on the traditional British school story.
It is no coincidence that the majority of the books’ action takes place in Harry’s school, along with characters drawn from his classes and his school house. The books positively revel over the problems of passing exams, avoiding detentions, indulging in feuds and sneaking out of bounds. These topics have been the staples of school fiction ever since Tom Brown’s Schooldays, and picking up a random volume of Jennings, Malory Towers, Billy Bunter or The Chalet School provides ample examples. In fact the way magic is dealt with in the Harry Potter books is decidedly unmagical – it involves timetables, homework, comedy mishaps and school matches far more than mystical insight or impenetrable mysteries.
The characters are easily recognisable types from the school story genre, too – Draco Malfoy is the aristocratic school bully, cruel to anyone poorer, stupider or less well-born than him; Hermione Granger spends much of her time as the swotty friend, a counterpart to Darbyshire in Jennings and Martin in Tom Brown’s Schooldays; and Ron is the straightforward and not always terribly clever sidekick, like Harry East in Tom Brown or Mike in Mike and Psmith.
In fact the fantasy element in the Harry Potter books is completely shaped by the previous conventions of the school story. There are magical dormitories, magical school feasts, magical detentions, magical housematches and a magical rivalries with other magical schools. J.K. Rowling could have very well written a novel about a wizard at a wizarding school without using these conventions, but the novels enthusiastically buy into the school story ethos. (Which makes one reflect that the school story form is necessarily limited by the time the characters spend at the school. With a petition afoot to persuade Rowling to write more novels, will she follow the precedent Thomas Hughes’ set with Tom Brown at Oxford? Will we eventually see a Harry Potter and the Fabulous Freshers’ Week?)
Drawing these comparison does not at all denigrate Rowling’s skill as a writer, nor the books’ interest. Her value was never in been an original author, but in borrowing cleverly from previous novels, and from various traditional plots and mythologies. It is interesting, though, that she managed a feat that few others could – the British school story is generally declared to be dead, due to its archaic values and implausible conventions. By using those conventions in a fantasy book, Rowling didn’t ask anyone to believe her, just to enjoy the story.
